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Talk:Miyuki Kazuya/@comment-43712202-20190909202938
In Episode 12 where Miyuki turns Sawamura down for pitching practice, the anime translators used obtuse, impossible to understand metaphors to convey Miyuki's reason, and they all but bury Miyuki. Some fans dumped him because of this episode. Miyuki states his actual intentions, which are reasonable and understandable, but unfortunately this episode is just one big language barrier. To himself, Miyuki says, "Really, though, I need to figure out what Furuya's set his sights on. It'll affect his performance in the next game." "Set his sights on" is the metaphor that is supposed to clearly tell us what Miyuki is thinking. In English "set his sights on" means one thing: that Miyuki is worried that Furuya's goals in life might affect his pitching ability. LOL That's preposterous. There's nothing wrong with someone having goals. I can say with near 100% confidence that whatever Japanese metaphor was used - who even knows if it was a metaphor - it carries a connotation that the English metaphor doesn't. In Japanese the equivalent phrase has to carry a subtle suggestion that the person, Furuya, is setting his sights on some high-blown, grandiose pie-in-the-sky goal. That idea fits the dialogue, the story, and the backstory. Miyuki is saying,"I HAVE TO get a read on Furuya's horrible, sucky attitude! Unfortunately, I'm going to have to delay my appointment with Sawamura." As the scene goes on it should be clear that Miyuki is at his wits end with Furuya. Is it clear to us as readers? NO. It looks like Miyuki is callously blowing off Sawamura and showing favoritism toward Furuya. When the little catcher, Yui ,swallows his pride and asks if he can come along and watch the practice. Furuya shows hi god complex very well. "Okay if it's just to watch," said Furuya. "Just to watch? Hey! HEY!" said Miyuki. The punctuation dilutes his "Hey!" down to "hey..." Next, Miyuki says, "Merciless, isn't he?" Merciless? Merciless might have been the "closest" match to the Japanese, but I think there's better synonyms, and it would have made a big difference in the upset of the readers of the English version if another word could have been used. "Cruel, isn't he?" or harsh, cold-blooded, cutthroat, inflexible, unfeeling, cold-blooded - any of these words would have had more impact in showing how much Miyuki disapproves of Furuya's attitude, how, as the one in charge of the pitchers, Miyuki feels responsible, and how he feels he needs to do something about it fast. Furuya isn't being merciless or pitiless, right? Certainly not. No one in the scene is in a pitiable position. The little catcher is a lot stronger than that. He's already dealt with and moved on from his hurt feelings. Furuya is being a cruel, stuck-up little bitch, and Miyuki has noticed. He's concerned about it because if Furuya has moved yet farther away from being a team-player, it could greatly affect the next game. "That attitude!" said Miyuki. I think "That attitude!" is probably Miyuki saying, "That fucking horrendous attitude, especially toward one of our precious new catchers. I'll kill him!" -- something along those lines. The obtuse metaphor as well as the rest of Miyuki's dialogue just doesn't get his meaning across. Neither does anything else that follows, and the translation out-subtles itself so that Miyuki looks like a villain rather than a concerned captain who has a big problem on his hands. I wrote more on this but for some reason this site won't let me post it, so this is the shortened version. Maybe it will help redeem Miyuki a little bit. It's no fun being angry at a good character like Miyuki, right?